Adaptive defense mechanisms: function and transcendence.

This article reviews the high-adaptive (mature) defense mechanisms, along with case material illustrating each. These defenses are described in terms of not only the specific means by which they serve to ward off anxiety and manage conflict, but also how they often transcend their role as defenses by contributing to the creation of new "products" of value, such as new meanings, perspectives, modes of relating, and works of art or science. This report also discusses the implications of the use of adaptive defenses, especially humor, in the context of psychotherapy.